Conventional firearms need safety features to protect the user from accidental firings. Accidental firings typically happen when the user is unaware that a live ammunition cartridge is loaded in the firing chamber. Safety procedures normally require opening the chamber to make a visual inspection to ensure that it is not loaded with live ammunition. A safety plug placed in the firing chamber with a tab extending through the breech for visual and tactile confirmation eliminates the need to open the firing chamber to make such an inspection.
Other safety plugs have been designed to be loaded in the firing chamber of a weapon, and provide visual identification. But structural limitations of some firearms have prevented their effective use in this regard. These safety plugs need to be conveniently extractable from the firing chamber to allow a live ammunition cartridge from the firearm's magazine to be quickly loaded. They also need to securely fit into the firing chamber without falling out. Safety plugs that either jam or fall out of the firing chamber render their functionality useless and potentially dangerous.
Also, prior art safety plugs have provided limited visible indications of their presence in the firing chamber. Low light and night time conditions are particularly troublesome for such indication. The visual indication should be conspicuous and easily seen in any light condition.
Another disadvantage of prior art safety plugs is the inability to efficiently mass produce a reliable product. Prior art safety plugs having an annular rim for being grasped by the firearm's ejector are typically constructed from two separate parts--a forward part which is usually constructed of a material such as nylon or plastic, and a rearward part with an ejector rim which is usually constructed of machined brass. The manufacturing process involved with machining the brass base and joining it with the plastic forward section is labor intensive, expensive, and highly subject to manufacturing error due to the fine tolerances that are required (usually 1/1000th inch). Manufacturing the forward and base sections as a single plastic or nylon part would be desirable, but doing so has heretofore not been a practical option because the resultant one-piece construction is generally unable to withstand the mechanical rigors of being inserted and ejected from the firearm, particularly when the safety plug is ejected multiple times.
Therefore, there is a need for an effective and reliable safety plug that can be mass produced efficiently. The safety plug should provide a visual confirmation in all light conditions and improved functionality within the firing chambers of numerous firearm types.